MasukKAI'S POV He leaned into my touch. His eyes closed for a moment, and I saw something soften in him. The tension in his shoulders finally started to ease."I want to be what you need," he said quietly. "I want to give you the things you're asking for. But I need you to be patient with me. I need you to let me learn."I nodded. "I can do that.""And I need you to tell me when I'm doing it wrong. When I'm being too gentle or too rough or not listening. I need you to be honest with me.""I can do that too."He opened his eyes and looked at me. The wariness was still there, but something else was there too. Something warmer."I love you," he said. "I know I said it before. But I need you to hear it. I love you, Kai. And I'm going to spend the rest of my life making sure you feel that."I felt tears prick at my eyes. "I love you too. I didn't think I could love anyone. I didn't think I deserved to. But I do. I love you."He pulled me into his arms. His embrace was warm and solid and safe.
Kai's POVThe blood was gone, but the tension remained.Jax had been quiet all evening. He ate dinner without really tasting it. He sat by the fire without really seeing it. His eyes kept drifting toward the window, toward the dark forest, toward the invisible threats lurking beyond our walls.I watched him from across the room.He was still in patrol clothes. His sleeves were rolled up, showing the corded muscles of his forearms. The cuts on his knuckles had already healed, closed up with that supernatural speed enigmas had. But the tension in his shoulders hadn't faded."Jax," I said softly.He didn't answer. He was staring at the fire, his jaw tight."Jax."He blinked and looked at me. "Sorry. What?""I asked if you were okay.""I'm fine." The words came automatically. Empty.I got up from my chair and walked over to him. I stood in front of him, forcing him to look at me instead of the fire."You're not fine," I said. "You've been sitting there for hours. You barely touched your f
Kai's POV I heard the front door slam open and nearly jumped out of my skin. I had been sitting at the table, trying to read a book I had found on the shelf. The words had been blurring together for the last hour. I couldn't concentrate. I kept thinking about Jax. About the way he had said he loved me. About the way he had stopped before things went too far. My heart was racing, my head was spinning, and I had no idea what to do with any of it. When I heard the door slam, I shot to my feet. My first instinct was to run, to hide. That old survival instinct. The one that had kept me alive for five years. But then I smelled Jax's scent. It was sharp with adrenaline and aggression, but it was him. He was here. He was safe. I rushed to the doorway. He was standing in the main room, breathing hard. His hands were clenched into fists. There was blood on his knuckles. Not his blood. "Jax?" I said. "What happened? Are you hurt?" He looked at me. His eyes were still dark, still burning
Jax's POV The morning patrol started like any other. I left before dawn, when the sky was still dark and the forest was quiet. Kai was asleep. I had checked on him twice before leaving, making sure he was breathing steady, making sure the nightmares hadn't come back. They hadn't. I moved through the trees with practiced ease. My feet knew every root, every rock, every patch of soft ground. This territory was mine. Every inch of it. I had bled for it, killed for it, isolated myself for it. And now I had something worth protecting inside it. The thought made me move faster. The northern border was the most vulnerable. Thick forest gave way to open ground, and beyond that, the territories of packs who had no business near mine. I had set markers. Scent posts. Traps. But a determined intruder could still find a way through. I was halfway along the border when I caught the scent. Strange wolves. Multiple. Their smell was wrong, unfamiliar, laced with something aggressive and inten
Kai's POVHe reached out and gripped my wrist. Not hard. But firm. His thumb pressed against my pulse point. I felt my breath catch."This okay?" he asked."Yes."He pulled me closer. His other hand went to my waist and held me steady. His grip was strong. Not painful. But present. I could feel the weight of his hands on me."Tell me what you want," he said."I want you to kiss me," I whispered. "Hard."He leaned in. His mouth met mine, and it wasn't soft. It was hungry. Demanding. His lips parted mine and I felt his tongue slide against my own. His grip on my wrist tightened slightly, and my body responded instantly.Heat flooded my stomach. My heart pounded.I pushed into him, craving more contact. He answered by pulling me closer. His free hand slid up my back and pressed me against his chest. His mouth was relentless. I felt like I was finally, finally being seen.He pulled back, breathing hard. His eyes were dark and intense."More?" he asked."Yes," I breathed. "Please."He push
Kai's POVThe heat was gone.I woke up on the third morning feeling empty in a way that had nothing to do with hunger or thirst. My body was cool. My skin wasn't flushed. The desperate, aching need that had consumed me for days had simply... vanished.And in its place was something worse.I lay in Jax's bed and stared at the ceiling. The sheets were tangled around my legs. The morning light was grey and cold through the window. Everything felt quiet. Too quiet.I knew what was coming next.It always happened like this. The heat would end, and then the hunger would start. Not the good kind of hunger. The ugly kind. The kind that made my skin crawl and my stomach turn. The kind that made me want things I wasn't supposed to want.I pressed my palms against my eyes and tried to breathe.Five years.Five years of conditioning. Five years of being touched only when it hurt. Five years of learning that gentle meant nothing and rough meant everything.I had told Jax about the abuse. I had tol
Jax's POV I stayed very still. I had watched Kai's face while he read the letter. I had seen the exact moment his expression went from careful blankness to something that looked like the ground dropping out from under him. I had seen him put the letter down with both hands like he needed to be de
Kai's POVI read it twice before the words fully landed.The first time my eyes just moved across the page without really taking anything in. Legal language. Formal language. Pack council statutes and prior agreements and respectful requests. My brain processed the shape of the sentences without
Knox's POVThe ride back to Lunar Reavers territory took three hours. Three long, humiliating hours with my men silent behind me and the cold air doing nothing to cool the rage sitting hot in my chest.Jax Wilder had thrown my men out of his home like they were nothing. Like I was nothing.I replay
Kai's POV Later that night, I lay there in Jax's bed with his shirt still wrapped around me like a blanket. The room felt quiet now. Safe in a way I never thought I'd get again. But my mind wouldn't stay still. It kept drifting back even when I tried to push it away. The fire from the hearth crack







